UIC proposes 750-bed dormitory

Robert Becker, Tribune higher education reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

In an ongoing effort to outgrow its commuter-school image, the University of Illinois at Chicago Thursday announced plans for a 750-bed dorm project--a key element of the final piece of the school's approximately $750 million south campus development.

In addition to the $80.3 million residence halls, UIC also plans a 3,000-seat, $21.6 million convocation center and $9.6 million in office-retail space. The project will be located at the southeast corner of Roosevelt Road and Halsted Street.

The project will go to the U. of I. board of trustees for official consideration--and possible vote--in July. The Illinois Board of Higher Education must also approve the plan.

Announcement of the plans came at a contentious board of trustees meeting at UIC that was dominated by discussion of the fate of Chief Illiniwek, the controversial symbol of the Urbana campus' athletic teams. By a vote of 9-1, the board approved a resolution to seek a "consensus conclusion" on the fate of the chief.

With vocal supporters and opponents of the 78-year-old tradition in attendance, the board rejected a proposal by Urbana campus student trustee Nate Allen to impose a July 31, 2005, deadline to determine the future of Illiniwek.

"This worries me," Allen said of the board's failure to act on the chief. "After 15 years [of debate], we haven't found a middle ground."

But trustee Frances Carroll, who in November floated a resolution to retire the chief, said she now believes compromise is possible.

"I am not going to be so naive as to say what that compromise will be at this point," said Carroll, who along with trustee Marjorie Sodemann co-sponsored the resolution calling for the "consensus conclusion" to the issue.

Plans to complete UIC's south campus attracted considerably less controversy.

With 3,100 beds for about 25,000 students, UIC Chancellor Sylvia Manning said, there is a huge waiting list to live on campus.

Manning added that studies show students who live on campus perform better academically.

"I don't think it's a rocket-science issue," said Manning. "If you take the commute out of their lives, it gives them that many more hours to attend to their studies."

Manning said with the addition of the planned residences--in addition to the approximately 750 students already living in new dorms on the south campus--student housing is reaching critical mass.

"We have really created a village [that will] be powerful," said Manning.

Manning also said the planned convocation center would serve an important alternative to the UIC Pavilion, which seats approximately 10,000.

"We have nothing on campus that permits us to bring a group of 2,000 or 3,000 students into a single place," said Manning.